Treasure hunters team up to find a fabled hoard. Very straightforward series of globetrotting scrapes, heists, and escapes based loosely on the long-running videogame series. Variable production values don’t help. Lead Tom Holland does what he can with the material, but this is tickbox stuff throughout.
Here’s the trailer.
A man with mental health issues finds that he is the current incarnation of an immortal, and that a war wages for Earth’s survival. Clumsy and often incoherent Highlander / The Matrix / The Old Guard wannabe for lovers of the later Fast and the Furious movies. No-one comes out of this with much dignity. Not great at all.
Here’s the trailer.
A gang of body builders in Florida attempt the kidnap and extortion of a businessman. Loosely based on the actual events and court case surrounding the ‘Sun Gym gang’, this outrageous film is entertaining but struggles between crime dramatisation and glorification. A good cast works well here though. Watch it and decide!
A fishing vessel and crew head into mortal danger during an enormous storm. Genuinely impressive VFX lend this true story adaptation some real weight. The script is a little corny and the acting suffers as a result – but there is no denying the film delivers some punch. Worth a watch!
A Boston ex-cop, fresh from jail, partners with his new roommate to unravel the conspiracy that led to his imprisonment. A loose adaptation of a post-Robert B Parker Spenser novel, and not a good one. A by-the-numbers comedy thriller that doesn’t do its characters justice, despite a decent cast.
A couple get more than they bargained for when fostering kids. At times funny family film with more chuckles than laughs. Labours the heavy ‘message’ too obviously and contains some horrendous stereotypes. Cast manage to keep it together. Might kill an afternoon.
An elite anti-terrorist squad battles to get an asset across a hostile city. Clunky actioner mistaking thuggishness for badassdom; unlikeable characters don’t help, and the wasting of Uko Iwais is nigh unforgivable. Fourth and least of the Berg/Wahlberg flicks to date.
A dramatisation of the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. Well-acted, good-looking though insubstantial retelling of a famous case; not quite a serious drama or a straightforward thriller, and the weaker for the indecision.
Drama based on the true story of a drilling rig disaster. Another effective Berg/Wahlberg collaboration after Lone Survivor (and the subsequent Patriots’ Day) that tells a true-life tale with an emphasis on ordinary people, camaraderie, and a little patriotism.
A covert US incursion in Afghanistan goes awry. Effective mission-gone-bad thriller which sensibly avoids close scrutiny of politics, focusing on Hawksian camaraderie and on delivering a sensational sustained action set-piece.
255 Review 